Develop a Mindstorms/Technic creation (not
competition) in which people of all building levels can participate. Each
person can build one (or more) module(s). All modules will be
assembled to form a large "Rube
Goldberg "-ish bucket-brigade type
contraption.

With other themes, Adult Fans of LEGO (AFoLs) have designed standards, that allow people
in different geographic locations to build sections that will be included in a
common display. A couple examples are the Moonbase and Classic
Castle standards.

With the Type 1 interface, only balls are passed from one module to the
next. In the future, Crates may also be passed back and forth.

Type 1b interface
standard:

The Type 1b standard is a subset of Type 1. This type of module can easily
be included into a train layout. In Type 1b, all modules are built on
one or more 32x32 baseplates (in a straight line).

It's also recommended that Type 1b modules have
an even higher throuput rate than 1 ball per second, because they will usually
be displayed in GBCs with fewer modules, so a higher throughput should keep it
interesting.

Building Notes:

This simple interface should offer plenty of
flexibility. The distance from the back of the module to the input/output
must be no greater than 32 studs, because when this Great Ball Contraption is
assembled, it may be located against a wall, and that will allow a uniform distance to/from the wall.

The distance in front of the bin is not limited, but it's recommended that
the module's width be greater than its depth.

The throughput rate of 1 ball per second does sound fast, but this will be
required to keep balls from building up in the input of a slower module.
The actual rate may be closer to 2/3 balls/sec.

Currently, there is no standard for physically connecting modules
together. Most, but not all modules will be assembled on some sort of
baseplate, and it's assumed these plates can be connected together.

The tank treads from the Mindstorms kit seem like they
should as a really nice belt to move balls up a small hill. BUT, THEY DON'T.

Another suggestion when building modules: Many
RCX controlled modules will wait for a section to
"fill-up" before dumping. Then, it may go through a sequence of moves,
before returning to it's "waiting" state. It's
actually a good idea to put the "wait" at the end of
the sequence. That way if the module is off, while
the previous module is running, the first thing it will do is empty itself,
instead of waiting to overflow, before unloading.

If you want to make a GBC module that uses a
single motor, and runs at a constant speed of at least 1 ball per second,
how fast must it go? Normal Mindstorms motors run around 360 RPM or ~6
revolutions per second. Here are some really rough figures...
If the motor is connected via 8 tooth to 24 tooth gears, that's 2
rev/sec
8 to 40 = 1.2 rev/sec
worm to 24 = .25 rev/sec (must deliver 4 balls per rev)
worm to 8 =
.75 rev/sec

Balls:

LEGO makes several different types of soccer balls, with different patterns. Any of them will work. However, about the only place to buy them is from Bricklink